Cylindrical type-setting



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD HEMMING, 0F BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

CYLINDRICAL TYPE-SETTING.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 4,315, dated December 16, 1845.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, RICHARD HEMMING, of thecity of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts,have invented a new and useful Method of Attaching Printing Types toCylinders for the Purpose of Taking Impressions from' CylindricalInstead of Flat Surfaces, and that the following is a full, clear, andexact description of the principle or character thereof, whichdistinguishes it from all other things before known, and of the mannerof making, constructing, and using the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which-Figure l is a top View of a segment of the cylinder of a printing presswith a page of types seit, and secured in place, and the space for thetypes for another page; Fig. 2, a longitudinal vertical section taken atthe line (X X) of Fig. l; and Fig. 3, atransverse section taken at theliiie (Z Z).

The same letters indicate like parts in all the figures.

It has long been admitted that the steam press would be greatly improvedin the rapidity and facility of its operations, particularly forprinting on endless sheets of paper, if the types could be so formed and.secured on the cylinder as to retain their proper position under theoperations of the press, particularly as the motion of the cylindertends to incline them always in the same direction.

l/Vhen used on a flat form the types are.

square prisms and therefore all that becomes necessary to retain them inplace, is to press them all together, the friction of their faces beingsuflicient to retain them in place; but when applied to a cylinder twoof the faces alone can be parallel, while the other two are inclined toeach other so as to converge to the center of the cylinder on which theyare to be set, so that any pressure applied to the outside of types; setto form a page, will tend in one direction to force them from their bed.To avoid this tendency it has been suggested to make the types with aprojection on one side and a corresponding recess on the other, so thatone will lock into the other; but this it is believed will noteffectually remedy the evil as the middle of a range would still have atendency to rise from the bed, but my improvement it is believed willeffectually remove this difficulty.

It` consists simply in making the types with a recess in one face of thebody or shank to receive a rule or strip of metal which is laid in aftera whole range of types have been set up; the ends of the rule projectingbe yond the range sufficiently to be secured by a. slide or cap plateattached to the cylinder. From this it will be obvious that no one typecan rise above the range without cutting olf the rule, a number of themcannot rise in a curve without bending the rule, and thev vends restingin the rabbets (c, c); and (f,

f) are dovetailgrooves made in the upper faces of the fianches (o, Z2)to receive a dovetail tongue on the sliding plates (g, g) which extendover the ends of the rules and prevent them from rising.

The reglets, furniture, &c. (7i, it) are provided with projectingtongues on each end to lit into the rabbets (o, c), so that they arealso held down by the sliding or cap plates in like manner as the rules.In this manner the types are effectually held together and to the bed inthe direction of the circumference of the cylinder, while in thedirection of its length they are held in the manner usually practised.The cap plates may be secured by screws, keys, or other known devicesinstead of the dovetail groove and tongue.

)V hat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

The method of retaining types in their proper relative positions on acylindrical bed by means of rules or strips of metal, or otherappropriate substance, tting into recesses made for that purpose in thebody or stem of types, substantially in the manner described.

RICHARD I-IEMMING.. Witnesses C. W. M. KELLER, J. J. GREENonGH.

